Webware

Growing up, my musician brother started out experimenting with music using a four-track tape recorder that he used to blend together guitars, keyboards, and vocals--something that normally requires an entire band, or some advanced audio-mixing equipment. Tjoon is an interesting new Web service, aimed mostly at musicians, that attempts to do the same thing using Webcams. It splits up a video workspace into four quadrants, and lets you, or others, come together to record four 30 second clips, all within the same shot. Instead of trying to do this simultaneously, like eJamming (coverage), Tjoon is completely asynchronous, meaning you can pass along your work to others to let them add their own matching clip.

The service was created by the same folks who did Floorplanner.com (review), and was designed specifically for the musicians you tend to see on YouTube or other video services, showing off their Freebird solo skills. Tjoon steps it up a notch, letting users can open up their creations to anyone who wants to record their own tracks alongside the original. As admin, you can also delete any additions you don't like. Other Tjoon users can also comment on a video and rate it up or down, with the most popular and top rated videos making the front page.

There are some obvious limitations to this service in its current form, but I still think it's a really fun way to experiment with video, and multitrack recording. The biggest downer is the 30 second cap on video clips, which just isn't going to cut it if you're actually trying to record a full length song (~3 minutes). You also can't push out your video to other video hosting services without using third-party screen capturing apps, although there is an embed option. Regardless, the idea of asynchronous jamming makes a lot more sense for the casual user than eJamming's model. While the service doesn't seem to want to go in the direction of professional recording, I think kids with instruments and Webcams are going to love this for its simplicity.

Below is an example of a one-man harmony made using the service:

• Original Signal rolls out meme tracker. The single-page aggregation service has added a new front page to their Web section. The page displays the top 10 most popular stories at any given time. The new service uses an algorithm that decides when a story is worthy of being on the front page without any additional user interaction required beyond browsing the site. Something similar was done with Spotplex, which we checked out last month.

• eJamming launches. The virtual garage for musicians to 'jam' in different geographical locations launched their AUDiiO service this morning. The app has versions for both Windows and Mac OS X, and is free during the testing period. Previous coverage here.

• Google updates mobile search. Google has simplified and optimized search results for fewer clicks while using the mobile version of the search engine. They've also added location memory, so you don't need to reenter what area you're searching in. What may be the neatest addition is a personalized version of Google's mobile homepage, which can be set up with your favorite tools or services.

• Museum takes a cue from Flickr. Web services such as Flickr and Gmail have pioneered the use of tagging, making it easier to sort through large collections of pictures and words. Taking a cue from this movement, museums are beginning to add tags to pieces of art with description-based words. Steve, a collaborative research project, offers free open-source software for them to get started. The goal is to make collections easier to sort through for people who can't remember the name or creator of a work of art. (CNET News.com)

• Adobe Remix goes live. Adobe's free Web-based video-editing tool is now available to all Photobucket users. The tool, which we covered last month, lets Photobucket users string together and edit video clips taken from their digital cameras. Since our hands-on, Photobucket teamed up with PumpAudio to provide more music tracks to add to videos. The company also redesigned their front door earlier in the month, placing more emphasis on user photos.

EJamming, which makes software that enables people to practice music together if their instruments are MIDI-enabled, is announcing a service that works for non-MIDI instruments too: drums, guitars, voice, violins, etc. The idea is to let musicians practice together even when they can't get together physically, or to let students and teachers work together remotely.

There are really interesting technical challenges to making this work. Not only do you have to transmit very high-quality audio, but you have to do it with extremely low-audio latency. The eJamming founders, Alan Glueckman and Gail Kantor, told me their audio processor and P2P technology solves these issues, and they're going to demo their new product on Wednesday at the Demo 07 conference.

But eJamming can't break the laws of physics or go faster than the network it's running on, and it's the first online service I've heard of with geographic constraints. Even with a fast connection, Glueckman and Kantor don't recommend the service for people separated by more than a few hundred miles.

Glueckman says he had his cousin, Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer, in mind when he built this product. The idea being that Aerosmith can still have rehearsals when one or more band members are out of town. Kramer hasn't yet tried the product, Glueckman told me. I also ran this idea by my wife, who plays in a string quartet. She scoffed at it, since so much of performing, rehearsing, and teaching, she said, depends on subtle visual and personal cues that can't be transmitted over a network. The eJamming team hopes to add video to the product at some point.

I can see this working, though, for occasional rehearsals and for informal jamming. There's also a social-network angle to the service, which helps musicians find each other.

The service will go into beta in a few weeks. However, the cost of the service may limit its uptake: It's $15 a month. Per band member. That means a four-member band will have to shell out $720 a year to use it.

Are you a musician? What do you think of this idea?

By the way, at last year's Demo, iGuitar showed off a cool USB guitar [see video].